Country specifics

No emissions under 4.A, 4.C & 4.E.
4.G: The only emission series calculated is for the POP HCH (Lindane). This POP has been regulated and subsequently banned, the emission faded out in 1998 (see Rösemann et al., 2011 [12]).

Short description

Emissions occurring in the agricultural sector in Germany derive from manure management and agricultural soils.

The pollutants reported are ammonia (NH3), nitrous oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM2.5,PM10).
However, Germany does no longer report NOx emissions from biological N fixation (legumes) and crop residues as neither IPCC nor EMEP (2009) provide a methodology.
NMVOC emissions from agriculture are not reported as the methodology used in previous submissions has been evaluated as not adequate by international experts (see Haenel et al., 2012 [1]).

As displayed in the diagrams below, in 2010 93.8 % of Germany’s total NH3 emissions derive from the agricultural sector, while NOx contributes 7.9 % to the total NOx emissions of Germany. Regarding the emissions of PM2,5 and PM10 the agricultural sector contributes 5.5 % and 20 %, respectively, to the national emissions of PM.

In 2010 the agricultural sector emitted 513.5 Gg of NH3 , 103.6 Gg of NOx, 6.1 Gg of PM2.5 and 38.5 Gg of PM10. The trend from 1990 onwards is shown in the graph below. The decrease of NH3 emission in the year 1991 is due to a reduction of livestock population in the New Länder (former GDR) following the German reunification. No explicit trend is discernible for the years since then.

Recalculations and reasons

Recalculations the most important of which will be addressed in the following became necessary due to a number of improvements in input data and methodologies (for details see Haenel et al., 2012 [1]). In any case, recalculations were carried out for the entire time series 1990 – 2010.

NMVOC emissions from Agriculture are not reported for this submission as the methodology used in previous submissions has been evaluated as not adequate by international experts (see Haenel et al., 2012 [1]).

Improved N excretion calculations for “dairy cows”, “pigs”, “poultry” and “grazing” as well as updated national emisson factors for poultry housing led to decreased N excretion rates. The effects of these reductions are partly compensated by modifications in the calculation of N excretions for “other cattle” and “lambs”.
New data could be obtained for the frequency of diets with reduced N contents fed in pig production outside Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony). For the first time this could be dealt with in the inventory and led to reductions in calculated emissions.

Furthermore, air scrubbers used in pig production could be considered in the inventory for the first time. Again, this resulted in a reduction of NH3 emissions.
In the September 2010 in-country-review, members of the ERT recommended to revise the N contents of straw used as bedding material. Hence, the N content was slightly increased to the level of N contents that is used to describe emissions from crop residues. This change results in increased availability of N in the mass flow within manure management and provides the basis for increased emissions of N species.

As a result of the 2010 official agricultural census and the inquiry in manure application procedures, the frequency distributions for housing and storage facilities as well as manure application techniques were updated for the first time since 1999. Information concerning grazing was also updated. The 2010 inquiry concerning manure management revealed reduced times between application and incorporation of manures, resulting in reduced NH3 emissions. As the data gap between 1999 and 2010 was bridged by linear regression (see Haenel et al., 2012 [1]), this emission reduction also affected the years from 2000 onwards. However, the emission reduction effect was partly compensated by the fact that an increased share of manures was applied to grassland, crops and permanent crops where emission factors are higher than for bare soil with incorporation.
The inventory calculates NO and consequently NOx from housing and storage as proportional to N2O. As the N2O emissions factors used differentiate between various types of slurry based and straw based systems, the emissions NO and consequently NOx are also affected by the modification of frequency data mentioned above.
The emission factor for NO from excreta dropped during grazing was corrected from 2.0 to 0.7 % of the N input (EMEP, 2007-B1020-12,[9]).
The modified frequency data mentioned above also affect the emissions of PM from 2000 onwards. This is due to the fact that for cattle and swine the Tier 2 calculation method for PM from manure management differentiates between slurry based and straw based systems.

Visual overview

The following pie charts show the contribution of the six general NFR sectors to the national total emisson. The data is displayed by pollutant and for the latest reporting year. Click any chart to enlarge.

Specific QA/QC procedures for the agriculture sector

For agriculture, survey data from a past research project on management systems in animal husbandry is available. Efforts are made to carry out periodic, representative data surveys, in the interest of the inventory's continuing completeness and consistency. Further improvement in terms of completeness can be expected for future submissions.

Numerous input data were checked for errors resulting from erroneous transfer between data sources and the tabular database used for emission calculations. By comparisons with the results of the previous-year calculations and plausibility checks, a comprehensive review of the emission calculations was carried out. In addition, numerous calculation pathways and data flows were checked.

For submission 2012, methodological changes are documented in detail (see Haenel et. al. (2012)[1], Chapter 1.3). To support quality control a special QA/QC matrix has been established documenting the consequences of modifications in the emission calculations with respect to the criteria of transparency, consistency, comparability, completeness and accuracy.

Once emission calculations with the German inventory model GAS-EM are completed for a specific submission, activity data (AD) and implied emission factors (IEFs) are transferred to the CSE database (Central System of Emissions) to be used to calculate the respective emissions within the CSE. These CSE emission results are then cross-checked with the emission results obtained by GAS-EM.

The German IEFs and other data used for the emission calculations are compared with EMEP default values and data of other countries (see Haenel et. al. (2012)[1]).